Meredith and the Very Bad Day
by pokeitlikejello
Summary: Meredith has a bad day.
1. Chapter 1

FULL Title: Meredith and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

The entire title is borrowed from a children's book, which inspired me to write this. I don't own any of the characters, I just play with them. And it takes place during early first year interning, but not any specific time. George, Izzy, and Meredith all live together. Addison isn't in the picture. That's... about it. Comments/reviews are appreciated. :-)

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The exact moment when Meredith knew she was in store for a dreadful day was when she managed to arrive to the hospital late, stained, and bleeding. As she stumbled into the locker room, most of the interns were already leaving and off to begin their medical adventures for the day. Cristina was standing at her locker, lab coat on, and placing her stethoscope around her neck. She looked up at Meredith and was taken aback.

"What the hell happened to you?"

Meredith angrily threw her bag to the bench, missed, and walked to the sink, pulling up her slightly bloodied sleeve and washing the blood off of a scrape on her elbow. Cristina, eyebrows raised, stared. Meredith caught sight of the staring in the mirror and gave Cristina a look.

"I fell in the parking lot." Meredith explained, then faced Cristina with a frown, "After I woke up late, had to take a detour to get here, and spilled coffee on myself after slamming on my breaks to avoid a cat. Today is fan-freakin-tastic."

At that moment, Bailey entered the locker room, hands on her hips.

"Yang, I checked with Shepherd and you're scrubbing in on his surgery." Miranda said, ignoring Meredith.

"Thank you." Cristina replied, glancing at Meredith before leaving hastily.

Once the locker room door shut, Miranda narrowed her eyes at Meredith, who was rolling her sleeve down.

"Everything all right, Grey?" Miranda asked.

"Yes." Meredith replied, making her way to her locker and putting her lab coat on.

"Good." Miranda nodded and then dropped her tone, "But, you're late. And when you're late, people die."

"I'm sorry there was construction and-"

Miranda held up a hand, "Don't. You're in the pit."

With a sigh and a slam of her locker door, Meredith walked past Miranda and headed for the emergency room.

"And don't be late again!" Miranda called after her and then muttered under her breath, "Giving me atti_tude_ 'cause you're late..."

Meredith, picking up her pace in the hallway, headed towards the emergency room. She was irritated that George and Izzy, who had made it to the hospital on time, hadn't called and warned her about the construction when she was still at home, already running late and hurrying to get ready.

As Meredith rounded a corner on the way to the elevators, a nurse, distracted with a chart, stepped in Meredith's path. With a sudden stop and a side step, Meredith avoided the nurse and tripped forward, almost falling, but catching herself. The nurse continued on and Meredith stood with one hand on her hip, watching her go and glaring.

When the nurse was out of Meredith's sight, she spun around quickly and ran into an empty wheelchair being pushed by an orderly. Meredith fell to the smooth, cold floor with a thud, whacking her already tender elbow. She sat up and rubbed her elbow vigorously. The orderly leaned over her.

"You okay?" he asked, reaching out a hand.

"Yeah." Meredith took the hand and stood up, her knee starting to throb.

"Sorry about that." he apologized and then hurried off with the wheelchair.

Meredith glared again as the orderly left and then walked towards the elevator. There were several people getting on the empty elevator and Meredith picked up her speed.

"Hold the elevator!" Meredith called out and began to run, her knee screaming in pain.

She reached the elevator just in time for the doors to close in her face.

"You got to be freakin' kidding me!" Meredith slammed her palm against the closed metal door.

Glaring once more, she headed toward the stairs, limping. The heavy door stuck the first time she tried to open it, so when she tried again, she used more force and it swung open with ease, causing her to stumble dangerously close to the stairs. Meredith placed a hand on the railing and hobbled down the stairs, knowing that the day was only going to get worse.


	2. Chapter 2

The crying was bad enough, but the hiccups and the whining made Meredith want to take out the eight year old boy. She had been doing stitches after stitches all morning and this boy, whose name Meredith couldn't recall, cut his leg open when he tripped down his stairs outside his home. His mother, Mrs. Tate, was hovering. Meredith hated hovering.

"That's going to scar, isn't it?" Mrs. Tate asked, dangerously close as Meredith continued to stitch up the boy's leg.

"Nah... it will barely be noticeable." Meredith replied, hoping the mother would back away.

"Mommy, it hurts!" the Tate boy wailed and the hiccuped. Loudly.

"Couldn't you be gentler?" Mrs. Tate suggested to Meredith, who merely put on a smile that was too kind and continued stitching.

Little boy Tate stopped crying and looked at his leg, "I don't like blood. It makes me sick."

"Then, don't look at it." Meredith replied, a little too harshly and then added, softer, "Why don't you think about something else? Talk to your mom and don't look at the blood."

"Look at momma, Johnny." the mother clapped her hands.

'_Does she think her kid's a dog?' _Meredith rolled her eyes. She was thankful that she was almost done.

A mass of chaos sounded softly and grew louder until it burst into the emergency room. A man, bloodied, broken, and bruised, was wheeled in on a stretcher, surrounded by paramedics, nurses, and a doctor. Meredith glanced over quickly, trying to figure out what had happened to the man and hoping to get pulled on the case.

"Mommy!" Johnny exclaimed, looking at the man on the stretcher.

Meredith looked up at the boy just in time to pull away as the boy began to vomit. Meredith closed her eyes as Cherrios and milk reigned down on part of her hair and shoulder, and then began to drip down her lab coat. Johnny began to cry harder as his mother tried to soothe him. Meredith stood up slowly. A passing intern stopped next to her.

"Oh, jeez." he said looking from the puke to the boy to the almost completed stitch job, "Do you want me to finish for you?"

"Yeah." Meredith replied stiffly and walked out, careful to avoid any vomit from shifting and relocating.

Meredith walked to the closest bathroom as quickly as possible. She pulled off her lab coat and shoved it into one of the two sinks. With a frown on her face, she moved to the other sink and turned the water on. She leaned into the sink and let the water run over her hair.

Turning off the water, Meredith stood up, one eye closed for fear of getting water in it. She walked over to the paper towel dispenser and took a few sheets. She wrapped them around her wet hair, hoping to squeeze out some of the water.

"Grey."

Meredith looked towards the door and saw Miranda standing there with her hands on her hips. Meredith froze and gave a pathetic smile.

"I'm not even going to ask what you're doing." Miranda said, "I just came to tell you to take your lunch now because I have somethin' for you to do after."

"Okay." Meredith replied and Miranda left.

Meredith's face gave way to an annoyed expression as she threw away the paper towels and gathered her lab coat from the sink. She exited the bathroom and headed to the elevator. She eventually made her way back to the locker room and took out an extra lab coat, which she kept in her locker just in case, before heading to the cafeteria.

The lunch line was short and Meredith grabbed a tray. She realized why the line was short when she saw the food that looked more unappetizing than usual. Meredith settled on an egg salad sandwich, a bag of pretzels, and an apple. She paid for her lunch and walked over to the table where Cristina and Alex were sitting, eating.

Meredith dropped her tray on the table and plopped down in her chair. Alex cocked an eyebrow and looked at her.

"What's your problem?" Alex asked and took a swig of soda. His face cringed, "And what's that smell?"

"I was puked on." Meredith answered, flat toned.

"Seriously?" Cristina cracked a smile, but Meredith's glare made it vanish, "I mean, that sucks. Do you know what I was doing? Craniotomy. Nothing like fresh brain in the morning."

Meredith continued to glare, "That must have been nice."

Alex stood and picked up his tray, "I gotta go. Unlike some people," Alex looked at Meredith, "I'm actually doing surgeries today."

Alex smirked and walked off. Meredith ignored him and picked up half of her egg salad sandwich.

"Bailey's punishing me." Meredith said, agitated, "And she said she has something else in store for me after lunch, which I'm sure isn't surgery."

"That's why I'm never late." Cristina said quickly and ate some of her potato chips.

Meredith bit into her sandwich and stopped, disgusted. Cristina looked at her, puzzled.

"What?" Cristina asked.

Meredith chewed the sandwich in her mouth slowly before picking up her napkin and spitting it out. She threw her sandwich and the napkin down on her tray.

"It has chopped onions in it." Meredith stared at her sandwich and then looked at Cristina, "I hate raw onion."

"Um, sorry?" Cristina offered in an attempt to console.

"Yeah, thanks." Meredith replied and leaned back in her chair, putting her hands over her face, "This day is a disaster."

A beeping sounded and Cristina pulled her pager from her lab coat pocket. She looked at it and quickly put it back in her pocket. She picked up her tray and stood. Meredith lowered her hands and turned her head towards Cristina.

"You're leaving me too?" Meredith asked her.

Cristina opened her mouth, wanting to say something to comfort Meredith, but she had nothing. She promptly closed her mouth, gave an apologetic smile, and walked off. Meredith sat for a minute with a frown on her face and was still frowning when George and Izzy walked over to the table and sat down, both smiling at Meredith.

"Oh no." Meredith shook her head, "I don't want to sit with either of you."

"What did we do?" Izzy asked.

"I was late because I didn't know about the construction and traffic delay." Meredith told them as she stood up, "And neither of you had the decency to call and warn me."

"Sorry, Mer." Izzy apologized with an innocent shrug, "I didn't think you'd have a problem."

"Well, I did." Meredith retorted.

George looked around, confused, "What's that smell?"

Meredith glared at him and then Izzy before walking off in huff, leaving her tray at the table. She had lost her appetite and decided that she should probably get back to Miranda and find out what her next torture was. Meredith wanted to get it over with as soon as possible in the hopes that it would make the day go by faster and make it come to an end sooner.


	3. Chapter 3

Meredith walked down the hallway, scanning for Miranda.

"Of course finding her isn't going to be easy." Meredith muttered to herself, "She'll be in the last place I look. Maybe I should stop looking. Maybe I should let _her_ find _me_."

"Grey." Miranda said as she exited a patient's room which Meredith just walked by.

Meredith stopped and turned around.

Miranda nodded, "Yeah, I thought I heard you talking to yourself. Follow me."

Miranda led the way down the hall, Meredith trailing behind her. Every now and then a pain would shoot through Meredith's knee, reminding her of the fall that made her knee hurt in the first place. Miranda stopped outside a closed door and Meredith ran into her before she could stop herself. Miranda spun around quickly.

"Watch yourself, Grey." Miranda warned and cleared her throat, "Now, you will be looking after Jeffery Davis. He is a good friend of Chief Webber's and a major contributor to this hospital. Whatever he asks for, he gets, understood?"

Meredith nodded, "Yes."

Miranda swung open the door to reveal the private, single patient hospital room. It was larger than most hospital rooms and held one bed for Jeffery Davis, who was sitting up with a smile on his face. Meredith's mouth fell open slightly as she noted that Jeffery's wife and five children were all in the room also. Miranda entered the room and Meredith followed her in.

"Hello, Jeffrey." Miranda greeted warmly, "I brought you a helper."

Miranda indicated Meredith, who gave a smile.

"Ah, is this one of your interns?" Jeffery asked.

"This is Dr. Grey." Miranda answered him with a nod and then looked at Meredith, "Let me introduce you to the Davis family."

Miranda indicated with a nod or a point as she went around the room, "This is Jeffery's wife, Anne. The boy with the game is Dustin, and there's Harry and Brad. The girl with her headphones in is Clara and the little one there is Susan."

Meredith noted that Anne didn't look at her, but at her children as Miranda pointed them, clearly annoyed that they weren't giving their father the attention he deserved from his children. Dustin, sixteen, was in his own world playing his Game Boy while Clara, fourteen, was looking out the window with her iPod blaring. Harry, eleven, and Brad, nine, were playing with Power Ranger action figures while Susan, who couldn't have been more than four, was coloring in the corner.

Meredith nodded as she looked at Miranda again. Miranda looked to Jeffery.

"She's all yours until four o' clock." Miranda told him, "Then we'll prep you for surgery."

"Since when does the Nazi give up an intern?" Jeffery questioned, a smile on his face still.

"Since she was late." Miranda glared at Meredith.

Miranda looked back at Jeffery, "So, you take advantage of this opportunity."

Jeffery and Miranda exchanged a smile. Miranda turned to Meredith, glared again, and then left the room. Once the door was closed, Meredith faced Jeffery.

"Late, huh?" Jeffery asked, and then looked to Anne, "What should we do with her, honey?"

Anne shook her head, "Jeff, don't be mean."

Jeffery cocked his head to the side, "Well, Miranda said-"

"And if Miranda said light yourself on fire, I'm sure you would do that, too." Anne spat.

"What does that mean?" Jeffery asked.

Anne leaned forward, "You know exactly what it means. You joke with her all the time. You two are so buddy buddy."

Meredith took a few slow steps backward. She really felt out of place. Not only were Jeffery and Anne discussing some sort of infidelity, but they were including _Bailey_ in this conversation, which only made Meredith even more uncomfortable.

"I don't know why you think that there's something going on between me and every woman I have a decent conversation with." Jeffery said, becoming angry and defensive, "If that's the case, then why don't we discuss you and the gardener, huh? You seem to be really friendly with him."

"Oh don't even start with that!" Anne replied.

Meredith backed into the wall. She really wanted to leave. She looked around at the children. Dustin and Clara were still ignoring their surrounding, Brad had gone on to taunt Susan by taking her crayons and Harry had made his way over to Meredith's side, looking up at her with chocolate smeared on his face. He opened his mouth and Meredith noted two of his teeth were missing. Harry scrunched his nose about to ask a question.

"What's your name?" Harry asked.

"Meredith." Meredith answered him, "And you're Harry, right?"

Before Harry could answer, Brad ran over and stood next to Harry, crashing into him and speaking quickly, "Yeah, he's Harry and I'm Brad. Do you want some ABC gum?"

"What?" Meredith asked, not understanding Brad because of the rate at which he spoke.

Brad grabbed Meredith's hand while he pulled out a wad of purple gum from his mouth and then he promptly squished the gum into Meredith's palm. Meredith pulled her hand away, disgusted, while trying to pull the gum off of her hand. Brad laughed and ran back over to Susan.

"This is disgusting." Meredith commented, still working the gum off of her hand.

"Sorry about that." Harry apologized, "It's ABC gum. Already Been Chewed. Brad thinks it's funny."

"Yeah, well it's not." Meredith replied and entered the bathroom, getting the gum completely off her hand.

When she exited the bathroom, Jeffery and Anne were now not speaking to each other. Susan sauntered over to Anne with Harry behind her.

"Mom, we're thirsty." Harry said.

Anne sighed and Meredith could see how exhausted she was. Anne looked at Jeffery, thought better of it, and then looked at Meredith.

"Would you mind taking them to get a drink somewhere?" Anne asked, "And maybe a snack, too? Is there a cafeteria or something?"

"Um... yeah, sure." Meredith answered, remembering her duty.

Anne reached into her purse and pulled out money. She handed it over her children's heads to Meredith, who placed it in her lab coat pocket. Anne looked over to Dustin and Clara.

"Dustin, Clara, do you guys want a snack?" Anne asked, to which they both shook their head 'no.' Anne looked back at Meredith, "Teenagers, you know?"

Meredith gave a smile and nodded. Brad ran over to his mother.

"I want a snack!" he exclaimed, "Can I get one, too?"

"Sure thing, kiddo!" Jeffery answered, cutting Anne off, "You, Harry, and Susan go with this nice lady and she'll get you some snacks, okay?"

"Okay." Brad and Harry replied, while Susan sucked on her thumb.

"Thanks, Dr. Grey." Jeffery smiled at Meredith and winked, knowing his wife was watching.

"That's real nice, Jeff, in front of the children and all." Anne said sarcastically.

"Uh... let's go kids." Meredith led the way to the door with Harry, Brad, and Susan following.

Once the four of them were in the hallway with the door shut behind them, Brad took off running down the hallway with Harry following him, yelling at him to stop. Meredith tried to keep up with the boys while dragging Susan by the hand behind her and her knee in pain. It was then that Meredith knew she was going to have one large headache by the time four o'clock came.


	4. Chapter 4

It had taken Meredith almost five minutes to get all three children together. As they walked down the hall towards the cafeteria, the children were playing with latex gloves that Meredith had provided as a distraction. Brad was trying to fit his glove over his head.

When they entered the cafeteria, Meredith took the kids into the line with her. She picked up a black tray and looked at the children.

"What kind of snacks do you want?" Meredith asked them, but received nothing but shrugs. Meredith picked up a plate of cookies, "How about some cookies? I think they're chocolate chip."

"Yeah!" Brad exclaimed.

Meredith set three plates of cookies on the tray and began towards the cashier.

"I want pie!" Brad said, picking a piece up and setting it on the tray.

"Can I have a pudding?" Harry asked, waiting for Meredith answer.

"Sure." Meredith replied with an uncertain nod.

Harry took a cup of pudding and set it on the tray. Susan pointed at a display of red and green Jell-o.

"Jell-o!" she called out and Meredith added that to the tray as well.

"What about fruit?" Brad asked, wrinkling his brow.

"I think we have enough." Meredith told him.

Brad set a banana and an apple on the tray anyway. Meredith sighed and careened the children to the cashier, payed for the food, and took them to an empty table in the outdoors dining area. Once Harry, Brad, and Susan were seated and busily eating their snacks, Brad looked at Meredith, who remained standing.

"I need a drink." Brad said, pouting.

"Right." Meredith nodded, feeling dumb for forgetting to buy the kids something to drink, "Stay here. I'll be right back."

Meredith wove her way through the crowded dining area and back into the food line. She scanned the drinks, faced with a dilemma.

"What do kids drink..." Meredith trailed off, picking up a milk, then a juice, then a soda.

After several minutes, Meredith chose three chocolate milks and three apple juices. Upon returning to the table, she frowned. Susan had chocolate on her face, jell-o was spilled across the table, and Brad had pie on his shirt. Meredith set the drinks down.

"I'll get some napkins." Meredith turned with a sigh and headed for the condiment stand.

Meredith took as many napkins as she could carry and turned around, hoping this was the last trip she had to make. She froze, seeing Harry standing next to the table, his face red, calling out to her as Brad, also flushed, bent over in his chair. Meredith dropped the napkins and dashed to the table, prepared to perform the Heimlich maneuver, thinking Brad was choking. However, when she reached the table, she saw all three able to breathe, but the boys were having a difficult time.

Harry placed a cold hand on Meredith's arm. His face, like his brother's, had red splotches on it and his lips were bright red and swelling. Both Harry and Brad were wheezing, unable to catch their breath. Meredith looked over at Susan, whose face was pale from fear.

Meredith faced Harry, "What happened?"

"Allergic..." Harry spat out between shaky breaths, "Peanuts..."

Harry pointed to the cookies and Meredith's mouth dropped open. Cursing under her breath, Meredith turned back to Harry and knelt in front of him.

"It's okay..." Meredith tried to remain calm, looking Harry in the eyes, "Do you have a plan that your parents set up in case this happens?"

Harry reached into his pocket and shakily pulled out an EpiPen, an instrument containing epinephrine, which aids in a case of an allergic reaction.

"Do you know how to use it?" Meredith asked.

Harry nodded and uncapped his EpiPen. Meredith turned to Brad, whose was still bent over. Meredith went to him and kneeled in front him, ignoring the crowd forming around their table.

"Brad, do you have an EpiPen like your brother?" Meredith said, remaining calm in her surgeon mode.

Brad nodded, still wheezing and brought an EpiPen from his pocket. He gave it to Meredith, shaking his head. Meredith was unsure of how it worked, so she looked over at Harry, who quickly swung his EpiPen into his thigh. Meredith uncapped the EpiPen in her hands and swung it into Brad's thigh, just as Harry had done. After a tense minute of going back and forth between the two boys, they began to breathe normally and Meredith became more aware of her surroundings.

Susan was wailing in her seat, tears falling down her face. A sizable crowd was still gathered around the table, nurses and interns talking amongst themselves. A male nurse Meredith knew as Chase was weaving through the tables followed by a female nurse pushing an empty gurney. Chase stopped next to Meredith, looking between Harry and Brad.

"Do they need oxygen?" he asked.

Meredith shook her head slightly, "They're doing all right on their own, but we better get them to the E.R."

Chase nodded, "Yeah. I saw what was happening so I called for a gurney."

"Thank you." Meredith replied, gratefully.

Chase and the other nurse helped Harry and Brad onto the gurney, leaving them both sitting upright. Meredith picked Susan up, who was now crying loudly in Meredith's ear. The nurse pushed the gurney out of the dining area and in the direction of the emergency room. Meredith followed behind, struggling to carry Susan. She turned to Chase.

"Call up to room three-oh-eight and tell Mrs. Davis to come to the emergency room." Meredith told him and he left.

Once in the emergency room, Susan stopped crying after wearing herself out. She rested her head on Meredith shoulder as Meredith's arms grew weak. A male attending Meredith recognized, but didn't know personally came over to the group. He looked at the two boys and then to Meredith.

"What have we got?" he asked.

"An allergic reaction to peanuts." Meredith answered, "They both had an injection epinephrine."

Meredith reached her hand out slightly, which was holding both empty EpiPens. The attending took them and smiled.

"This is good." he nodded and turned to a passing nurse, stopping her, "I need two beds for these boys."

The nurse nodded and walked off. The attending examined Harry's mouth and throat before examining Brad's.

"We'll get them onto exam tables and decide where to go from there." the attending told Meredith, "But, it looks like the swelling's going down, which is excellent. They may not need any extra dosage. Working quickly against their reactions helped a heck of a lot."

"_Grey_."

The tone gave Meredith chills. She turned slowly to her right. Miranda was standing with her hands on her hips, gloves and a bloody smock on. Miranda's eyebrows drew together.

"What did you do now, Grey?" Miranda's tone was coaxed with annoyance.

"There was an... incident." Meredith replied, trying to be honest without revealing the truth, "But, I took care of it."

Miranda narrowed her eyes about to address Meredith's incident, when the emergency room doors banged open. Mrs. Davis entered, her face flushed with anger. Meredith swallowed hard, preparing for the worst.


	5. Chapter 5

"What did you do to my children?!" Anne Davis, mother of the Davis brood, exclaimed, striding across the emergency room and snatching Susan from Meredith's arms.

"I-" Meredith started, but the attending stepped in, cutting her off.

"Mrs. Davis, I am Doctor Helmer and I will be taking care of your two boys." Dr. Helmer said with a nod, "I assure you that they are doing well, but we would like to keep them on observation for a few more hours just as a precaution. You can thank Dr. Grey for acting quickly enough to undo any damage of their allergic reaction."

Anne looked at Meredith, her expression anything, but thankful. Anne then looked back at Dr. Helmer.

"Thank you, Dr. Helmer." Anne said.

Dr. Helmer smiled, "We're going to move the boys to a free room and there will be some paperwork you'll need to fill out."

"Sure." Anne agreed.

Dr. Helmer walked away and Miranda stepped into his place. Anne turned to her two sons.

"How are my babies?" she asked with great sympathy.

"Good." Harry said, nodding, his face back to normal color.

"Okay." Brad answered, his cheeks still splotched slightly with red.

Anne turned back to Meredith.

"I left them in your care and this is what happens?" Anne asked, glaring.

"Why don't we talk in a conference room just down the hall." Miranda suggested and began leading the way from the emergency room, "It'll only be a minute."

Meredith followed Miranda, knowing that this was not going to go over well. Anne gave a longing look to Harry and Brad, assured them that she would be right back and followed after Miranda as well. Miranda came to a conference room a few feet down the hall from a nurse's station.

Once the three parties were inside, Miranda closed the door. Anne set Susan down in one of the chairs and faced Miranda and Meredith, placing her hands on her hips.

"Anne, I would like to give you my sincerest apology for what happened to Harry and Brad, but I assure you that they will be given the best of care." Miranda said.

"This should have never happened, Miranda." Anne was glaring again.

"Excuse me, but I was suppose to aid your husband, not feed your children." Meredith shot back, "Had I known they had food allergies, then I would never have given them food to make them sick!"

"Dr. Grey." Miranda warned.

Anne started tearing up, "Well, I am quite sorry that I was distracted by the fact that my husband has a serious surgery in two hours. I thought putting my children in the care of a doctor would be safe."

The way in which Anne had said 'doctor' made Meredith clench her fists into tight balls, causing her nails to dig into her palms. Meredith knew that it was best to bite her tongue, but before she could stop them, the words were spilling out of her mouth.

"Oh, right." Meredith agreed, her words heavily laced with sarcasm, "I'm a doctor so obviously I'm suppose to know a child has allergies just by looking at them."

"Dr. Grey!" Miranda's voice cast the room into silence. Miranda took a deep breath, closing her eyes, "In the hall. _Now_."

Meredith slammed the conference room door open and two nurses looked up at her before returning back to their work. After a moment, Miranda joined Meredith in the hall. Meredith folded her arms across her chest as she leaned against the wall.

"Let me explain-." Meredith started.

"No, let me explain." Miranda held up her hand, "Jeffery Davis is a patient here at the hospital. I put you with him because I thought you could handle it."

"I could- _can_ handle it." Meredith insisted, "It's just that she wanted me to-."

Miranda held up her hand once more, "You're already in a hole, Dr. Grey, I advise you not to dig any deeper. You arrived late this morning, you made a mess of yourself in the pit, and so I assigned you one simple task to keep you from doing any more damage. I give you credit for remaining calm and handling the Davis boys well, however, the manner in which you just spoke to Mrs. Davis is unacceptable. You will remain there," Miranda pointed to a spot across from the nurse's station, "Until I am done speaking with Mrs. Davis."

Miranda went back into the conference room while Meredith trudged to the area where Miranda had pointed out. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes before slumping to the floor. After a minute, she felt a body slide down beside her. Meredith opened her eyes and looked over to see Cristina.

"What did you do?" Cristina asked, sounding not all that interested, but more amused.

"Bailey told me to look after the chief's friend and his family." Meredith explained, "I took the kids to get some food and the two boys had an allergic reaction. The mother freaked."

Cristina cocked her head to the side, "You almost killed two children?"

Meredith narrowed her eyes, a frown on her face. The conference room door banged open and Anne, carrying Susan, left towards the emergency room in a hurry. Miranda looked at Meredith and made her way over to her. Meredith and Cristina both stood to their feet.

"Your mess has been cleaned up, Grey." Miranda told Meredith, "I've got to check on some patients so you will stay here until I can decide what to do with you."

Miranda began to walk away and then turned around, "And Yang, shouldn't you be making some rounds?"

"Yes, Dr. Bailey." Cristina gave a nod.

Miranda continued on until she was out of sight. Meredith slumped back down to the floor.

"This sucks." Meredith slammed her head back against the wall.

"At least you don't have to go check and change a four hundred pound man's bandages." Cristina said.

"At least you're actually doing something." Meredith replied.

"True." Cristina agreed and picked up a chart from the nurse's station and examined it.

Meredith groaned as she saw Alex and Izzie walking down the hall. They stopped when they came across Meredith.

"The floor comfortable, Grey?" Alex asked, mockingly.

"Bailey's punishing me." Meredith answered.

"What did you do?" Izzie said, genuinely concerned.

"Caused a mess, broke some things, stole some kids, almost killed them." Meredith half lied, half told the truth, not really caring and letting the words fall from her mouth.

Cristina gave a side glance from her chart, a small smirk on her face. Meredith caught this look which somehow made her feel a bit better.

"O...kay." Izzie replied before pulling a chart from the nurse's station and heading off towards the elevators while Alex gave a shrug and headed for the emergency room.

"That was nice... good." Cristina gave an approving nod at Meredith's response to the question. Cristina then looked towards the hall, "Oh, great. Here comes Bambi."

Meredith looked in the direction Cristina indicated and saw George stumbling down the hallway, a stack of charts in his arms. As he came to the counter at the nurse's station, he dropped the charts on it, receiving an angry look from the nurse sitting there.

"Sorry." George apologized to her with an awkward smile before turning around and spotting Meredith, "Hey, Mer... What are you doing?"

"Bailey sent me to sit here because I fell asleep during surgery after I smashed a bunch of medicine on the emergency room floor and endangered the patients lives." Meredith lied, flatly.

George stared at Meredith, confused, his mouth slightly open. He paused before responding, "Really?"

"Yeah." Meredith nodded, "The chief should be down here any moment."

George looked to Cristina for some sort of confirmation to which Cristina just shrugged. George turned back to Meredith, about to say something when he suddenly turned to the charts he dropped and began stacking them on top of each other, readying them for filing. Meredith, now the one confused, looked around to see Chief Richard Webber striding down the hallway.


	6. Chapter 6

Richard Webber walked quickly down the hallway. He didn't appear angry, but he didn't appear to be too happy either. To Meredith's surprise, Richard stopped in front of her, looking down at her. Meredith clambered to her feet. She could see Cristina staring curiously while George's mouth hung open, clearly still believing the lie Meredith had told him.

"Can I have a word with you?" Richard asked, indicating the conference room.

Meredith led the way into the conference room with Richard following behind. Richard closed the door and then locked eyes with Meredith.

"I'm sure, by now, you're aware that news travels fast at this hospital." Richard said and Meredith gave a small nod, but remained silent. Richard continued, "I was in the ER checking on the Davis boys when Mrs. Davis came in and told me one of the interns gave her quite the attitude after, as she put it, hurting her children. I thought it was Karev at first, but then she mentioned your name."

Meredith simply stared back at Richard. She didn't feel like opening her mouth and digging herself into an even deeper hole. She figured it was in everyone's best interest if she kept her mouth shut. Besides, at this point in time, all Meredith wanted to do was go home, crawl into bed, and not come out until the terrible day was over.

"Meredith." Richard waited for a response.

Meredith swallowed, "Chief."

"Sit." Richard commanded in a gentle tone as he placed himself in a chair and Meredith followed suit, "I've been hearing your day has been quite hectic. Bad, even. And one could reason that bad days have the potential to cause stress which may result in heated words directed at the wrong person." Richard paused and Meredith stared blankly. Richard figured he should just get to his point, "Meredith, do you know what I'm trying to say to you?"

"Surgeons don't have bad days." Meredith answered, the words ringing familiar as something her mother had told her once.

Richard smiled at Meredith in the way that a teacher smiles at a student who attempts to address a question, but gives a response that couldn't be any further from the correct answer. A pity smile for trying.

"Bad days happen, but you have to make sure you take a step back when you're feeling particularly stressed or overwhelmed." Richard said while Meredith felt her agitation growing, "Our patients are our top priority. It's important we treat them as such."

"Yes, Chief." Meredith replied, quietly. She really didn't feel like she needed his lecture. She knew she shouldn't have spoken to Mrs. Davis like she had, but when the words were tumbling from her mouth, she didn't care.

"I just wanted to make sure we were clear." Richard stood up.

Meredith rose to her feet as well, "We are."

Richard opened the conference room door and Meredith exited. Richard moved past her and headed for the elevators. George and Cristina approached.

"We couldn't hear anything." Cristina said, gripping a chart tightly, "What happened?"

"Did he yell or did he use that calm tone that actually means he's pissed?" George asked, leaning in towards Meredith.

"He didn't do either." Meredith answered George and turned to Cristina, "He just lectured me."

"He wasn't mad that you practically destroyed the ER?" George responded, incredulously.

"George." Meredith stared at him, "I made that up."

"Oh, Bailey alert." Cristina said, eyes widened as she watched Miranda walk down the hall. Cristina quickly turned on her heel and began to head off, "Gotta do rounds."

Miranda stopped in front of Meredith and George. Miranda held her eyes on George.

"O' Malley, didn't I give you chart assignments for the afternoon?" Miranda asked, coolly, a hand on her hip.

"Oh, right." George took a step back, "Of course, Dr. Bailey."

With that, George went scampering off. Meredith remained alone with Miranda and was not too pleased about this. She wondered how long the punishment was going to last.

"I want you taking blood samples." Miranda said.

"Excuse me?" Meredith questioned, unsure if she heard correctly.

"Blood samples, Grey." Miranda replied, annoyed and then spoke slowly to make sure Meredith understood her, "I will assign you patients, you will go to them, and draw their blood."

Meredith knew she shouldn't ask, but she couldn't help herself, "Isn't that what the nurse's are suppose to do?"

"I'm sorry, Grey, I must have you confused with someone who takes orders when given." Miranda responded in a manner that made Meredith wish she bit her tongue instead of asking that question, "I was under the impression that you wanted to work today whether you were assigned to perform a task that was a "requirement" of _your_ job or not. If I am wrong, you can offer a suggestion for something you would like to do instead of jobs that you deem as being below you."

Meredith swallowed and shook her head. Miranda nodded.

"That's what I thought." Miranda added, "Now, follow me so I can give you some patients that need attending to."

Miranda led the way through the hospital with Meredith following in silence. Meredith couldn't quite understand where some of the words she had spoken to others had come from. It bothered her that her day was so bad that the negative part of her brain was unleashed on a world that didn't deserve it.

After turning a few more corners, Miranda stopped at a nurse's station and searched through a pile of charts. She pulled out a few every so often, creating a sizable stack on the desk. Meredith watched in disgust and contempt. She was not looking forward to poking people with needles when, if better circumstances had permitted, she could have been cutting people open and performing surgeries.

Once there was a good hour worth of work, Miranda stopped pulling charts and handing the stack to Meredith, whose arms sank with the heavy load. Miranda smiled at Meredith.

"There ya go, Grey." Miranda said, "Enjoy."

Miranda walked away from Meredith, who remained standing with the charts in hand, glaring at Miranda's back. Meredith sighed and set the charts on the desk. She flipped open the first couple examining them. She noticed that they were all elderly patients. Quickly, Meredith began to flip through all the charts, realizing her patients were either elderly or children.

Meredith closed eyes, taking in a deep breath to try and calm herself. The task that would normally take one hour was now along the lines of two or more hours. Meredith knew the hardest veins to draw blood from were the elderly and children. Swallowing hard and taking another deep breath, Meredith picked up the charts and headed for the patient rooms, knowing she was in store for crying, screaming, impatience, and bruising.


	7. Chapter 7

**This is the last chapter of this fic. Thanks for reading!  
**

* * *

It was excruciating and took almost three hours, but Meredith had finished retrieving blood from every patient Miranda had assigned. Meredith walked toward the locker room, feeling tired, yet slightly better now that her mind had peace from nagging elderly people and crying children. As Meredith was about to push open the locker room door, a voice called out to her.

"Dr. Grey."

Meredith closed her eyes, taking a breath. She opened her eyes and turned around. Miranda was walking down the hall. She stopped in front of Meredith.

"You finished the work?" Miranda asked.

"Yes." Meredith gave a nod.

"Good." Miranda approved, "I expect to see you tomorrow morning _on time_."

"Yes, Dr. Bailey." Meredith agreed.

"Goodnight, Dr. Grey." Miranda turned around and headed off down the hallway.

Meredith sighed with relief, glad Miranda wasn't assigning her any last minute projects. Meredith entered the locker room and was annoyed to find it full of other interns, none of which were her any of her friends. Meredith pushed her way through, grabbed her jacket out of her locker, and left quickly.

Meredith was pleasantly surprised when she reached home and realized that she had not run into any problems. As soon as she had that thought, however, she was suddenly put on alert, fearing something bad was right around the corner.

Hurrying, Meredith made her way up the stairs and into her house. She shut the door behind her and took off her jacket, placing it on the coat rack next to the front door. She decided to take a shower, hoping it would be the final act to washing away the bad day.

Meredith made her way upstairs, noting that Izzie and George were not yet home from the hospital. She walked to her bedroom and closed the door behind her. She tossed her keys on the dresser and took her clothes off as she crossed the room to her bathroom. She picked up her bathroom off the hook on the back of the bathroom door and slipped it on.

Cracking her neck, Meredith made her way back out into the hallway and down to the bathroom. She locked the door once it was closed and turned on the water. She pulled off the robe and set it on the toilet seat. She felt the water and pulled back, noting how cold it was.

Meredith turned the hot on all the way and then reached under the sink for a towel. When she straightened up, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her hair was tasseled and her make up had smeared sometime during the day. Meredith was so glad she was going to take a shower.

Meredith set the towel down on the toilet seat and walked into the shower. She shrieked as freezing cold water hit her body. Meredith jumped out of the shower, grabbing her towel and wrapping it around herself. She reached into the shower and turned the cold all the way off, while making sure the hot was all the way on.

After a few minutes, Meredith tested the water and it was still freezing. With an annoyed sigh, Meredith put her robe back on and left the bathroom. As she was making her way down the hallway towards her room, the phone started ringing. Meredith picked up the receiver in her bedroom.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Mer." Izzie's voice came through the phone.

"Hey." Meredith replied, throwing on a pair of Derek's boxers and a tee shirt with a monster truck on it, which Meredith was uncertain as to its origin.

"I just wanted to let you know the hot water's down." Izzie said, "There was something on the news about busted water pipes or something. They said it should be fixed by early morning. And George and I went to Joe's so if you want to join us, feel free."

"Thanks, Izzie, but I'll probably stay in." Meredith sat down on her bed.

"Okay, well, see you later." Izzie hung up before Meredith had a chance to reply.

Meredith figured that Izzie was probably busy playing darts with George and simply called to give her a heads up. Meredith threw the cordless phone on the bed and then fell back, closing her eyes as she laid on her bed. A low grumbling caused Meredith to open her eyes. She was hungry.

Meredith forced herself out of her bed and towards the kitchen. As Meredith made her way to the refrigerator, she stubbed her toe on a kitchen chair and cursed loudly. She hobbled to the fridge.

Scanning the items, Meredith settled on heating up leftover stir fry that had been delivered the previous night. She dumped the contents of the carton into a pan and turned the stove on. The telephone rang again. Meredith glanced at the food on the stove and hurried over to the phone.

"Hello?"

"Mer... Mer..." George was obviously tipsy.

Meredith smirked in spite of herself, "Hello, George."

"Hi." George responded, "Listen, we have a bet. We need your help."

"Okay." Meredith nodded.

"This is for a drink and twenty dollars." George tried to sound serious, but couldn't pass it off, "So, I think that the guy in 'The Sixth Sense' was just a doctor and Izzie says he was actually dead. Who's right?"

"First of all, I think the guy was some sort of psychiatrist and second, Izzie's right." Meredith still had a smile on her face, "Sorry, George."

"Damn." George cursed and then laughed, "Okay, later, Meredith."

"Bye." Meredith replied and hung up the phone.

Meredith turned back towards the stove and her mouth dropped open as she saw that the food was smoking. Letting out a cry, Meredith hurried to the stove and turned off the burner, fanning the smoke before it could set off the fire alarm. Meredith decided on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead of the burned stir fry.

Once the sandwich was made, Meredith made her way into the living room and placed herself in front of the television. She checked the tv guide channel and was pleased to see one of her favorite shows was on and being an intern, she never had too much time to watch tv, so when she was able to catch a show she actually liked, it was a treat. She flipped the tv to the correct station and deflated when she realized it was an episode she had seen three times.

It was just Meredith's luck that whenever she was able to watch this show, it was always the same episode on. Meredith sighed and turned the tv back to the tv guide channel. After watching the scroll four times, she discovered 'The Sixth Sense' was on in a half hour. Meredith laughed to herself and flipped the tv to that station, deciding she would wait for it to come on, wanting to see it again after just discussing it with George.

Finishing off her sandwich, Meredith settled down onto the couch, sprawling herself across it. Her eyelids began to grow heavy as she stared at the television. Within a few minutes, Meredith accidentally fell asleep.

* * *

The sound of a gunshot caused Meredith to jump and she woke up out of sound sleep. Disoriented, she looked around and her eyes settled on the television, noting the scene was at the end of the movie she had wanted to watch. Her mouth fell open and she threw her head back onto the couch, annoyed at the fact that she had been asleep through almost the entire movie.

Flicking the television off angrily, Meredith stood from the couch and walked back upstairs, deciding to call it an early night. She noted George and Izzie still weren't home by the lack of the jackets by the door. Meredith turned the lock on the front door before heading upstairs.

Meredith entered her bedroom and froze when she saw Derek sitting on her bed.

"What are you doing here?" Meredith asked, knowing that she didn't look her best.

"I wanted to see you." Derek smiled, "You were asleep and I didn't want to wake you, so I thought I'd wait."

Meredith walked over to the bed and sat down next to Derek. Derek kissed her on the forehead and then on the mouth. Meredith laid down on the bed and Derek flopped down next to her. Meredith crawled in next to Derek, snuggling into his arms, just wanting to be held.

"I heard you had quite the bad day." Derek said into Meredith's hair.

"Despite everything... it has suddenly gotten much better." Meredith replied, leaning in closer to Derek and falling back to sleep.


End file.
